This site is in a wonderful setting
overlooked by the mountains of Tomaros (about
2,000 metres high), nearly as dramatic as Delphi and
without the coaches. There were lots of butterflies,
cicadas and knee high flowers last May. There is no
museum here.

Dodona is
the site of the Oracle of Zeus, according to Herodotos'the most ancient in Greece', probably going back
to the Early Bronze Age (c. 2,600 BC). When Herodotos
visited Dodona, in the 6th century BC, he was told a
story of two black doves coming from Thebes in Egypt, one
of which founded the sanctuary of Zeus-Ammon in Libya and
the other settled in the oak tree at Dodona,
announcing, in human speech, that the oracle of Zeus
should be built there! Herodotos is sceptical of this
story and prefers the Egyptian version of two foreign
women being sold as slaves, one of whom come to Dodona
and whose foreign language sounded like the
'twittering of birds' , (The Greek word at the time
for dove (peleiades) was the same as that for
priestess or prophetess) so as with all legends there are
several possible explanations! The oracle 'spoke' through
rustling oak leaves and vibrating cauldrons.

Oak
trees were considered sacred by many ancient people
because they are prone to lightning strikes and spots
struck by lightning were thought of as sacred.

In
the Odyssey Odysseus comes here to ask the
Oraclewhether he should go home openly or in
secret. Inscriptions found at the site, and now in the
museum at Ionnina, include requests to know 'am I her
children's father?' and 'Has Peistos taken the
wool from the mattress?'!

Another
visitor to Dodona was Jason who came here to fetch
a branch of the oak to place on the prow of his ship the
Argonaut to guarantee him safe passage.

During
the reign of King Pyrrhos of Epiros, 297-272 BC,
there was a substantial building programme here including
civic buildings and a theatre for the Naia festival,
which was held every four years. In 219 BC the
sacred site was burnt and looted by the Aetolians;it
was rebuilt shortly after, and the stadium added, by Philip
V of Macedon, using the spoils of Thermon which he
had sacked in 218. It was again burnt by the Romans
in 167 BC who later, in the time of Augustus,
27 BC-AD 14, converted the theatre to an arena.
The end for the sanctuary came when pagan worship was
banned by the Christian emperor Theodoseus in 429.
A Basilica was built in the 5th and 6th centuries using
material from the older buildings.

The SiteThere is a good
information board near the entrance to the site.

You enter
the site through the Stadium, the venue for the
athletic events of the Naia festival. For a time these
games were as famous as those at Olympia. There were
twenty two rows of stone seats, you can see those
on the left reaching up to the retaining wall of the
theatre with two flights ofsteps clearly
visible; you can just make out the remains of one flight
of steps on the other side of the stadium.

At
the entrance to the theatre, which was arched, is the turning
post.

The Theatre was restored in
the 1960's, (although I have been told that it is in
danger of collapsing) and much of the proskene and
cavea (auditorium) are clearly recognisable.

In front of
you (before going into theatre) you see remains of the
two storey skene(stage) and
parts of the thirteen octagonal columns of a Doric
colonnade. On either side of these are the remains of
three Ionic half columns which formed the propylaea
(gateways) to the theatre leading to the paradoi (entrances).
An archin the centre of the wall leads to the skene,
with large square paraskenia at each end.
The skene and paraskenia were used as changing
areas for the actors, for the scenery and the equipment.
At the front of the skene are remains of the seventeen Ionic
columns of the proskenion added in the
rebuilding after 219. Behind these are the remains of
four square pillars. The curved wall which
cuts through the paraskenia was built by the Romansto
protect the audience from the wild animals, thedoorways
either side of the arch lead to the areas where the
animals were kept.

The
cavea is built into the hillside supported
by a retaining wall, up to 21 metres high, which
has tower-like buttresses at either end. There are
four diazomata (gangways) running round the
auditorium, dividing it into three sections with 9, 15
and 21 rows of seats. The lower section is divided in
nine cunei (wedges) by ten flights of steps, and
the upper section is in 18 cunei. Two wide
staircases on the outer edges gave access to the seats on
the upper level. After Argos and Megalopolis this was the
largest theatre in ancient times holding 17,000 people
(Epdauros seats 'only' 12,000!).

There
is a deep channel running round the edge of the
orchestra designed to drain rain water away.

The
base of the altar of Dionysos (the thymele)
is in the centre of the orchestra.

Immediately
past the theatre, on the left at the base of the buttress tower,
was the priests' house, and next to this the Bouleuterion
(Council Chamber) which had a large hall with a Doric
colonnade in front, (we can see remains of 10 Doric columns).
Three rows of Ionic columns supported the roof. There were two
large doors; look out for the bronze sockets in the
stone thresholds, in which the door pivots revolved. The
surviving walls are of stone but the upper part was built of
baked and unbaked bricks. Behind the wall of the Bouleuterion are
more remains of columns.

Opposite
the Bouleuterion is the prytanaeion(being excavated &
restored) where the eternal flame burned and where the
magistrates and other VIPs dined. Excavations so far have
revealed a Doric courtyard at the entrance. The north wing
consisted of three rooms each with nine couches. In front of
Bouleuterion is a temporary cover to protect a monument base.

To the
left of these is a little path (through waist high flowers) up to
the acropolis and the top of the theatre. Here there are
broad steps leading to the top of the cavea and a
breathtaking view. (Don't be tempted to take the path before
the theatre; it comes to a dead end!)

Beyond the
Bouleuterion you come to the Sanctuary, the sacred area
containing the oracle of Zeus, conspicuous because of the
oak tree, not, I'm afraid, the original, which was hacked
down by Christians in the 4th century, but one planted by
archaeologists.

From the 8th
to 5th centuries BC the sanctuary consisted simply of a
number of cauldronson bronze tripods encircling
the oak tree. The tripods were placed so that the cauldrons
touched causing them all to vibrate and reverberate when one was
hit, or possibly whipped.

The sounds
of these and the rustling oak leaves were 'interpreted' by
frenzied priestesses known as Selli. Fragments of tripods
and cauldrons dating from the 8th to the 4th centuries BC have
been found at this spot.

It was
only in the 4th century BC that a small simplestone
temple, the Hiera Oikia, or sacred house, was built
next to the tree and later low walls built around the sanctuary.

At the
beginning of the 3rd century the sanctuary was made more
elaborate: the precinct was enlarged and an Ionic colonnade built
on three sides.

At the end
of the 3rd century even grander changes were made; the small
temple was replaced by a larger one and a propylon added,
supported by four Ionic columns. We can see the outline of the
walls and the base of the temple in the corner.

Nearby
there are the scant remains also of four other temples,of
Dione, Themis, Herakles and Aphrodite, and also remains of
columns of thethree-aisled basilica built in the
5th and 6th centuries AD.

In the
second half of the 4th century BC all the buildings of the
sanctuary were enclosed by a wall with rectangular towers
at intervals.